Road to Utopia (1946)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Hal Walker

Writers:

Norman Panama (original screenplay) &
Melvin Frank (original screenplay)

Release Date:

22 March 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Comedy

Plot:

At the turn of the century, Duke and Chester, two vaudeville performers, go to Alaska to make their fortune...

Plot Keywords:

Map | Ship | Alaska | Vaudeville | Chase

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Duke Johnson / Junior Hooton
Bob Hope	...	Chester Hooton
Dorothy Lamour	...	Sal Van Hoyden
Hillary Brooke	...	Kate
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Ace Larson
Jack La Rue	...	LeBec (as Jack LaRue)
Robert Barrat	...	Sperry
Nestor Paiva	...	McGurk
Robert Benchley	...	Narrator

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #9933) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

June Lake, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Duke: Chester, you'd better face it - the cards say "Alaska!"
Chester Hooton: No wonder - it's a cold deck!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America: Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses?: Nerds, Jerks & Oddballs (#1.1)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Personality

Delayed Road trip.

Road to Utopia was one of several films made during World War II and shown to GIs before reaching the civilian public. Saratoga Trunk and The Two Mrs. Carrolls are two other examples. We have some evidence for this statement. First and foremost Robert Benchley died a year before

the film had it's premier at the New York Paramount on February 27, 1946. Benchley, noted humorist and sometime film actor, provided some off and on-screen narration for the Crosby and Hope monkeyshines. He was reputed to be a big fan of both and I think he just wanted in on the fun.

Also, Crosby recorded most of the songs for Road to Utopia on July 17, July, 19 and December 8, 1944 at Decca studios. The song Personality wasn't recorded by him until January 16, 1946, however in the film, Dorothy Lamour sang it.

It was worth the wait for the civilian public. By now the boys had the surreal nonsense down pat. Dorothy Lamour plays Skagway Sal who's father is murdered in the first minutes of the movie by killers Sperry and McGurk. Dotty beats it up to Alaska to look up Douglass Dumbrille, her dad's best friend for assistance. As Douglass Dumbrille invariably does in these films, he's looking for the goldmine her father left for himself.

The killers take the next boat with the map that they stole from Dad in hand. But they don't reckon with the sharpie and the schnook who have stowed away on the boat to Alaska. Crosby and Hope steal the map and the killer's identity.

The plot I've described so far could be a melodrama, but not in any film with the title beginning "Road to......" Between talking bears, talking fish, and a cameo appearance by Santa Claus the laughs come fast and furious.

Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke wrote the songs for this surreal madcap and gave Dotty two songs, Would You and the aforementioned Personality. Crosby got his ballad, Welcome to My Dream, and a philosophical song, It's Anybody's Spring. The last one he sang on board on a ship talent contest with Hope accompanying him on the accordion. They lost to an organ grinder and a monkey which prompted Hope to comment on the next road trip he was bringing Sinatra.

And Crosby and Hope sang Goodtime Charlie which didn't make it to vinyl and Put It There Pal probably the best known of the duets they sang together in the Road pictures. Lots of dated references in the lyrics there to Crosby's horses and their respective radio sponsors. But today's audiences would still enjoy it.

One interesting fact was that the Catholic Legion of Decency a very powerful group in those days made objections to suggestive lyrics in Personality. Hard to believe in this day and age, but as another songwriter a generation later put it, "the times, they are a changin'."

Road picture references are sometimes dated, but the laughs are eternal.